Ball.



L. WERMELING.

BALL.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.23, 1911. y 1,047354 Patented Deo. 17, 1912.

llellllli STATS Frlrlllltlil LOUIS WERMELING, OF COVINGTON, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR T0 P. GOLDSMITI-IS SONS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

i ,ti/47,354.

BALL

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. l?, 1912.

Application filed October 23, 1911. Serial No. 656,131.

To all 'ic/10m. i 15 muy concern.'

Be it known that I, Lot/Is lVEuunmNu, a citizen of the United States, residing at Covington, in the countytof Kenton and State of Kentucky, haveA invented certain new and useful Improvements in Balls, of which the following is a specification.

Al'ly invention relates to an improved baseball.

The object of the invention is to produce a very durable, elastic and eilicient play ball.

The features ol the invention are more fully set forth in the description of the accompanying dra ving, forming a part of this specification, in tvhiclu* Figure l is a planview showing the winding. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through av completed ball. Fig. 3 is a view, partly in section, through the mold showing the compressing step.

My improved ball is formed substantially from compressed sponge, it may-be made ot' any size, hard or, soft, or any desired resilience. The principal component of the ball is known f sponge trimming, this being an ordinary article of commerce bought from sponge dealers.

Assume that I wish to duplicate an official league ball. A'mass of the sponge clipping would be weighed out to amount to'between and lounces and placed loosely in the semi-spherical mold l. The coacting semispherical plunger 2 would then be brought down into the mold with a pressure approximating two thousand pounds to the square inch. The sponge .fiber would be powerfully compressed into a homogeneous mass ot' closely compacted strata oltl uniform density and of uniform resilience throughout,

the circumference of this com )acted s one sphere 3 being' substantially eight and fiveeighths inches. The sphere thus formed is ejected from the mold and immediately wrapped firmly with twine to form the inner covering l a fraction ot' an inch in thickness. The wrapping is done before the sphere has had time to undergo a reaction which would disrupt the spherical torniation it' the wrapping were not done at once.v The twine-bound compacted sponge sphere is then covered with the ordinary ball covering 5, of anyrsuitablel material.4 Y

I' am aware that sponges have been used to form the core of a ball and that sponges have been loosely molded into spherical shape to form the )rincipal spherical component ot' a ball. ly discovery, however, has produced a new result, namely, that these sponge trimmings can be powerfully compressed into a compact, homogeneous, unitary sphere, o1 the requisite density and elasticity to form the ideal body of a ball.

These balls do not depend upon the resilience of the core, as used in the conventional wound ball, but are uniformly resilient, sul stantially throughout the entire compacted sphere, the result being that the sphere holds its shape perfectly after severe batting. Again, the density is substantially unito-rm, so that the ball has the ideal sailing or [loating' qualities conducive to long flight and regular, true lines of motion.

The ball is immeasurably superior to the ordinary higl1grade ball, has greater durability and resilience, and will retain its qualities after a long continued and hard usage.

Having described my invention, l claim :-v--

A play ball comprising a spheri tal body composed of sponge trimmings compacted by heavy hydraulic pressure into .a homogeneous unitary body of sponge fiber of uniform density and elasticity, the diameter ot' said sphere approximating the diameter of the ball, a relatively thin twine binding maintaining said sphere in its compressed eonditiomand an outer covering fabric.

ln testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand. LOUIS WlCRlVELlNG.

Witnesses OLIVER B. KAISER, CLARENCE B. FOSTER. 

